Business is booming for a North-East company which has been making a name for itself in golf course design.

Projects worldwide are keeping golf architect Andrew Mair and former Ryder Cup captain Mark James, who are part of the consortium which run Northumberland club Burgham Park, very busy through their company Golfplan Europe.

Based in Cramlington, Golfplan Europe is a golf course design and consultancy business which has been involved at about 160 golf courses around the world, mainly on a redesign basis and is currently involved with projects in the USA, Spain and eastern Europe, including Poland.

Linked to Golfplan International in the USA since 1995, the company has expanded from Europe and now finds their ideas very much in demand in America as well.

"The idea was for us to do a lot of stuff in Europe," said the 52-year-old Mair, "and Mark and I do tend to do a lot of work in the UK which are redesigns and centenary upgrades.

"Many courses just need a bit of a tweak and some upgrading but you don't want to lose the original layout which is often unique."

Mair and James have worked on the Forest of Arden, Corfu, which is rated in the top 20 in Europe, and one of the latest commissions is in the Krakow Valley in Poland as well as projects at Lees Hall, Hillsborough, Renishaw Park, Wortley Hall, Great Lever and Farnworth and Myrescough College plus a new course near Estepona on the Costa del Sol.